Since its inception, the Wall Street Journal has been about usefulness. The New York financial world’s paper of record began in 1882 as a disseminator of small, handwritten bulletins known as ‘flimsies’, embossed swiftly on sheets of carbon paper and hand-delivered to financiers and stock market players around the city.
These were set apart by their ability to break down and explain complex financial processes and stories. Just a year later, founders Charles Dow, Edward Jones, and Charles Bergstresser began compiling these bulletins into an afternoon newsletter. By the end of the decade, the Journal had formed.
However,...